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Afghanistan Cricket Team
The Afghanistan national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Afghanistan in International Cricket matches.The Afghanistan Cricket Federation was formed in 1995,Cricket has been played in the country since mid 19th Century,but it is only in recent years that the national team has become more successful. became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2001 and a member of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in 2003. They are ranked ninth in Twenty20 Internationals cricket as of 9 November 2011, ahead of ICC full member nations Zimbabwe and the currently unranked Bangladesh. They're considered as one of the best affilate members of cricket,behind Ireland. They played well in the world cup qualifers ,but they came fifth and they didn't qualify for World Cup 2011. History http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Afghanistan_national_cricket_team&action=edit&section=2 editPre-ODI history The earliest record of cricket in Afghanistan is of British troops playing a match in Kabul in 1839, though it appears that no long lasting legacy of cricket was left by the British. In the 1990s, cricket became popular amongst the Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan, and the Afghanistan Cricket Fedration was formed there in 1995. They continued to play cricket on their return to their home country.Like all sports, cricket was originally banned by the Taliban, but cricket became an exception in 2000 (being the only sport in Afghanistan to be approved by the Taliban) and the Afghanistan Cricket Federation was elected as an affiliate member of the ICC the following year. The national team was invited to play in the second tier of Pakistani domestic cricket the same year,and the tour brought international media attention to Afghan cricket when the US-led invasion of the country began whilst the team was in Pakistan. The team lost three and drew two of the five matches on the tour. They played in two Pakistani tournaments in 2003, winning their first match that year. They began playing in Asian regional tournaments in 2004, finishing sixth in their first ACC Trophy. More success began in 2006 when they were runners-up to Baharain in the Middle East Cup and beat an MCC side featuring former England Captain Mike Gatting by 171 runs in Mumbai. Gatting was dismissed for a duck. They toured England Domestic Teams in the summer of 2006, winning six out of seven matches. Three of their wins came against the second XIs of Essex, and Leictershire.They finished third in the ACC Trophy that year, beating Nepal in a play-off match. They won their first tournament in 2007, sharing the ACC Twenty20 Cup with Oman after the two tied in the final and the pitch was wet for bowl-out to be done to have a winner.They began their qualifying campaign for the [[ in Jersey in 2008, winning Divison Five of the World Cricket League.They finished third in the ACC Trophy Elite tournament the same year, and won a second consecutive WCL tournament, Division Four in Tanzania later in the year. In January 2009, Afghanistan progressed to the 2009 World Cup Qualifier by winning Divison Three of the World Cricket League in Buenos Aires, topping the table on net run rate ahead of Uganda and Papua New Gueina.